A rusty nail is a

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

made by mixing

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

with Drambuie in a 1:1 to 2:1 ratio. A rusty nail is most commonly served on the rocks in an

old-fashioned glass The old fashioned glass, otherwise known as the rocks glass and lowball glass (or simply lowball), is a short tumbler used for serving spirits, such as whisky, neat or with ice cubes ("on the rocks"). It is also normally used to serve certain ...

(a.k.a. a rocks glass), although it can also be served " up" in a stemmed glass. Its origin goes back to the 1937 British Industries Fair, but it did not become popular until the 1950s endorsement by New York's

Club 21 Club 21 is a luxury retail company established in 1972 by Singaporean entrepreneur-hotelier Christina Ong. Club 21 started as a small boutique in Singapore's Tanglin Shopping Centre and has expanded to operate multi-label fashion stores at Four ...

and its recognition by popular culture as the go-to cocktail of the

Rat Pack The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...

a decade later.

Variations

Variations of the drink can be made using any aged

spirit Spirit or spirits may refer to: Liquor and other volatile liquids * Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks * Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol * Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...

with the Drambuie (its one essential ingredient),''Essential Whisky Cocktail: Rusty Nail''
The Whisky Advocate online; accessed February 2023 although using blended

in a 1 to 1 or 2 to 1 ratio is traditional. The addition of additional Drambuie tends to sweeten the cocktail. The cocktail can be garnished with a twist of citrus, usually orange, that will enhance the acidity and flavor. Other variations include: * The ''rusty ale'', in which a shot of Drambuie is added to any beer (served without ice) * The ''rusty Bob'', that substitutes

Bourbon whiskey Bourbon () is a type of barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn. The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise source of inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbo ...

for blended Scotch whisky * The ''rusty Compass'', adds cherry liqueur to the rusty nail mix''Rusty Compass''
Liquor.com article; accessed February 2023 * The ''smoky nail'', that uses

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

ed Isley single malt whisky (very smoky in flavor) in place of blended Scotch whisky * Another ''smoky nail'' that is known in Spanish as the ''clavo ahumado''; it uses mezcal instead of whisky * The '' Donald Sutherland'', substitutes Canadian rye whisky for the blended Scotch whisky

History

According to cocktail historian David Wondrich, "...the Rusty Nail took a while to find its proper place in the world". The combination of Drambuie—"the world's most distinguished Scotch-based liqueur"—and the whisky it is made from first appears in 1937 in the form of the B.I.F., credited to one F. Benniman and ostensibly named after the British Industries Fair. Wondrich goes on to note that. "it took another generation or so for the drink to assume its classic name and form, during which time it tried on several identities. Here it's a D&S...there a Little Club No. 1 (the Little Club being a rather swank sort of joint on East Fifty-fifth Street much haunted by showbiz types); at USAF Officers' Clubs in Thailand and the Republic of Viet-Nam, it's a Mig-21, while in the upper Midwest it's a Knucklehead." The cocktail authority Dale DeGroff said "the Rusty Nail is often credited to the clever bartenders at the

21 Club The 21 Club, often simply 21, was a traditional American cuisine restaurant and former prohibition-era speakeasy, located at 21 West 52nd Street in New York City. Prior to its closure in 2020, the club had been active for 90 years, and it had h ...

in Manhattan sometime in the early 1960s" The cocktail's name was finally cemented in 1963, when Gina MacKinnon, the chairwoman of the Drambuie Liqueur Company, gave the rusty nail her endorsement in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. DeGroff reported that in the early 1960s "...the Rat Pack was enamored of the drink, which may have been responsible for the wide appeal in those years..."

References

{{IBACocktails Cocktails with Scotch whisky Cocktails with liqueur Two-ingredient cocktails